Suntory shocked twice by Sakai in straight sets!

The 18^th leg in the men’s volleyball Daido Life SV.League in Japan started with a couple of shocking results. In a double header played on Thursday and Friday, table leaders and defending champions Suntory Sunbirds Osaka were not only defeated twice by Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers, but it was done emphatically, in two straight-set sweeps. This put an end to Suntory’s impressive 29-match winning streak in the league.

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In the first of the two matches played at the Ohama Daishin Arena in Osaka, hosts Nippon Steel Sakai Blazers hammered out a 3-0 (25-19, 30-28, 25-22) shutout of their mighty opponents. Their Danish opposite Ulrik Dahl led the way with a team-high 17 points, all in swings at a 61% success rate. Outside hitter Kenta Takanashi also made an impressive contribution, registering four kill blocks, two aces and a 77% success rate in attack towards a 16-point tally. His American cross-court teammate Mathew Anderson added 13 points, including one block. Suntory Sunbirds Osaka were led by their star outside hitter and captain Ran Takahashi with a match-high 18 points. Russian outside Egor Kliuka added 17, including three stuffs and two aces, while his teammate and compatriot – star opposite Dmitriy Muserskiy – appeared as a substitution only in the first two sets.

On Friday, Sakai produced another solid 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-19) shutout in front of over four thousand fans in the stands. Italian outside Tommaso Rinaldi, who also appeared only shortly as a sub-in during the first match, was now among the starters and led his team with a match-high 21 points. He hit 18 in attack at a 78% success rate and added two aces and a block to his tally. Dahl added 14 points, including three aces and a block. Takanashi finished with 10, all in spikes at a 67% success rate, while Anderson joined the game only shortly as a substitution during the third set this time. Opposite Kotaro Kai was Suntory Sunbirds’ most prolific scorer with 14 points. Takahashi added 12, while Muserskiy did not appear in play.

Suntory Sunbirds remained convincing leaders in the current standings on a 29-3 win-loss ratio and 84 points. Sakai improved to 12-20 and 36, but stayed in seventh place, just below the cut-off line for the playoffs.

“The fact that we were able to achieve a high efficiency in attack over the two days has given us confidence. While we still have a tough battle ahead of us to advance to the playoffs, we hope to use these two days as an opportunity to further grow and improve our team's level of perfection,” commented Sakai’s head coach Takeshi Kitajima.

The 18^th leg continues this weekend, March 7 and 8, with the remaining four double headers of the leg.

Men’s SV.League 2025-2026 remaining 18^th leg matches:
Mar 07, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Tokyo Great Bears
Mar 07, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Mar 07, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Voreas Hokkaido
Mar 07, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Toray Arrows Shizuoka
Mar 08, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Nagano Tridents v Tokyo Great Bears
Mar 08, 13:05 local (04:05 UTC): Hiroshima Thunders v Wolfdogs Nagoya
Mar 08, 14:05 local (05:05 UTC): JTEKT Stings Aichi v Voreas Hokkaido
Mar 08, 18:05 local (09:05 UTC): Osaka Bluteon v Toray Arrows Shizuoka

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